More than 90% of the human population is right-handed. As a result, medical and surgical equipment in use today, such as endoscopes and other endoscopic or minimally invasive surgical equipment, are asymmetrical, designed largely for right-handed operators.
Conventionally, devices such as, e.g., endoscopic devices, include handles designed for a right-handed person to operate the device efficiently and effectively. That design causes significant difficulty when a left-handed person tries to maneuver the device. In particular, manipulating a right-handed device is awkward for a left-handed person, and a left-handed operator encounters difficulty in seeing what she is doing, as visibility factors are significantly different from the left and right sides of the device. Similarly, a right-handed operator may have difficulty using an instrument designed for a left-handed operator. These factors produce both discomfort and inefficient usage. Difficulties may be aggravated during surgical procedures that require precise and careful tool movement inside the body. Additional problems include an inability to steady the tool, as well as difficulty reaching certain actuator switches that may also result.
Existing solutions to this problem include endoscopic devices with separate handles for left and right-handed operators. Hospitals often employ disposable endoscopic devices in an effort to minimize the risk of cross-contamination and hospital-acquired infection, however, and maintaining an inventory of two different handle configuration for each type of endoscopic device would be an expensive proposition. Further, some surgical procedures require two operators, and in such cases, different handedness of operators can lead to significant time delay and possible risk to successful conclusion of a procedure. In such scenarios, endoscopic devices with separate handles provide an impractical solution.
Therefore, there exists a need for an inexpensive and adjustable handle configuration, which allows both left-handed and right-handed users to customize the device for comfortable use.